PublishaLetter Blog

They are both opinion pieces. In that sense they are very similar. The differences are often cosmetic.

Letters to the editor are generally printed in the editorial page. “Op-Ed”, which is short for “opposite editorial” means the page, is physically opposite the editorial page.

A Letter to the Editor is short – 200 to 300 words. An Op-Ed is a longer piece – 750 to 1000 words.

A letter to the editor can be in reaction to a day to day or a larger issue. An op-ed should generally be about a larger issue.

As a result, there can be many letters to the editor on a single topic. A particular issue is unlikely to have more than two op-eds at a time – one for and one against.

Here is an important difference. A letter to the editor is generally a reaction to an editorial or an op-ed or a news item. An op-ed on the other hand, often addresses issues introduced by the writer.

Anyone (well almost anyone) has a shot at having his/her letter printed. The author of an Op-Ed will almost always need to have knowledge, experience or expertise in his topic. The “Standing” of the author is often the most important criterion in getting the Op-Ed published.

Within hours of the Presidential Inauguration letters came pouring in from all corners - from a recently unemployed person who found “hope”. “Pick yourself up, brush yourself off…” was the perfect advice said one about the speech. A writer even thanked the invenvtor of TV as she was able to watch history being made from a distance. The only downer seems to be the lunch at the Capitol, which made millions of people wait in freezing temperature. The event was a best summed up as “A miracle took place in Wash DC this 20th day in January 2009.”

The impeached Governor of Illinois may have turned the state’s politics into a “Freak Show”. The letters to the editor about the Governor, however,  seems to be fairly tame. This is not just true for the letters posted in Publishaletter. A cursory look at the letters published in various publications seem to be also thoughtful and fairly sedate. The passion, anger, anxiety, mudslinging, that cahrecterized many letters during the 2008 elections - both Presidential and local -seems to be missing. What does it mean? Are people more passionate about who gets elected to a public office than the crimes he/she might commit once there?

Many writers want to move beyond Letters to the Editor and publish an Op-Ed in a newspaper. Getting a newspaper to publish your Op-Ed is a more difficult proposition, for one simple reason – far fewer Op-Eds are published compared to the Letters to the Editors. Having said that, here are some suggestions and guidelines from dozens of leading newspapers ranging from Boston Globe to the Wall Street Journal, on writing an Op-Ed.

Provide, strong,focused opinion, backed by solid data.Have a clear point of view – do not sit on the fence. No attachments if submitting by email. Special interest groups, PR agencies need not apply. Average size of an Op-Ed - 700 words, with 600 to 900 words being the sweet spot. The writer will be authenticated before publication – so include full contact details . Be exclusive to the publication. Write well, be clear and jargon-free. Mention credentials (while there are no stated minimum author credentials even for the leading newspapers, being a head of state, a Nobel laureate or even a deposed dictator helps). And finally be patient and be ready to accept rejection.

Note: Unlike Letters to the Editor, you can not have PublishaLetter forward  your Op-Ed to any Newspaper. However, you can contact the  site to post it as a Guest Letter.